Two Comelec vote counting machines malfunction in HK

After a vote counting machine (VCM) “jammed” on Saturday, two VCMs malfunctioned yesterday at the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town, Consul General Antonio Morales said.

Morales said they were also verifying a complaint from one voter who claimed that another VCM counted two “extra” votes for senator that the voter did not cast.

“We encountered two vote counting machine failures–meaning hindi binasa, hindi tinanggap ang ating balota,” Morales said during a briefing after the end of the voting yesterday at the Bayanihan Centre.

The complainant undervoted, or did not vote for 12 candidates for senator, but then claimed that the voter’s receipt showed that the VCM had counted two “extra” votes. The complainant reportedly voted in Precinct 1 at around 10 a.m. on Saturday.

“Fortunately, there is only one case. It does not establish a pattern,” Morales said.

Morales said that the complaint was still “subject to verification,” noting that there was only one such complainant out of the 3,400 registered Filipino voters who cast their votes over the weekend.

“Nireport din natin yan but this is subject to verification dahil hindi naman natin—wala naman tayong ibang ebidensya na nakakita because of the secrecy. But we duly reported that to the Comelec,” Morales said.

He added that there were also two “spoiled ballots” yesterday after two voters inadvertently left marks on their ballot’s bar code.